A tax office in Cambridge that tackles avoidance schemes such as those highlighted in the Paradise Papers scandal is set to close.

The majority of staff at Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Cambridge are taking voluntary redundancy, and will leave on November 30.

Unions say the office in Shaftesbury Road will “struggle on for another three months”, and will close completely at the end of February 2018.

In February there will be some compulsory redundancies, and around 30 staff will transfer to HMRC Peterborough which is itself scheduled to close by 2021 as part of the withdrawal of all front-line tax staff from East Anglia.

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Mike Black, Branch Secretary, PCS Cambridge HMRC Branch said: “These job cuts actually cost the government money, because the additional tax brought in by staff working to combat tax avoidance can be a thousand times greater than the cost of employing them.

“The closures and redundancies show that the government is not serious about tackling tax avoidance.”

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PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka added: “With a tax gap of £120 billion made up of avoided, evaded and uncollected tax demonstrating the tax justice crisis the government faces, it is staggering that HMRC staff numbers have halved in the past few years resulting in the loss of thousands of experienced tax inspectors across the country.

"One practical step the government could take is to immediately halt the HMRC office closure programme.

"To continue with these closures and the subsequent loss of more experienced staff would indicate they have no interest in tackling these vital issues.

"We urge the government to halt the closure programme immediately.”

A spokesman for HMRC said: "We do have other employees working on tax avoidence."

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